In 2010, the Abilene Independent School District was given an unacceptable accountability rating by the Texas Education Agency.

The state's lowest rating stemmed from the district's Hispanic completion rate of 74.6 falling under the state's 75 percent requirement for each student ethnic group.

Last year, Abilene ISD's accountability moved to Academically Acceptable after the district's Hispanic students' completion rates — based on five years to account for continuing students, but not including students who earn GEDs — had been projected to increase 18.1 percent to 92.2 percent for the Class of 2011, and to increase overall for the district to 94.5 percent.

The dramatic improvement has given a glimpse to how quickly the district can turn its accountability rating around and possibly how far it can go. TEA's four rankings for schools or districts are, in order of best to worst, Exemplary Recognized, Academically Acceptable and Academically Unacceptable.

Some of the six candidates competing for positions for the Abilene ISD's board of trustees in the May 12 election believe the district eventually could reach Exemplary status. Others took a more cautious approach.

"Having our school district go from an Acceptable rating to Exemplary can be done, but it will take a lot of time and effort on everyone's part," Place 1 candidate Charles Byrn said. "We need to not only make sure that our kids have the equipment that is needed in the classroom, but that parents and teachers are doing their part in being involved in their child's education, whether it's getting their kids to school on time or making sure they're doing their homework."

Place 2 incumbent Samuel Garcia also thinks the district can raise its accountability rating to the top level.

"If you don't think you can, you shouldn't be on this board," Garcia said. "If you set the bar at a certain place people will attain it. That's why it's important to get the whole culture and system to attain those high performances."

Robert Laird, who's seeking his third term as the Place 1 representative, believes the district could move from Acceptable to Exemplary by continuing to "expect excellence" from all Abilene ISD personnel and stakeholders.

"It is realistic as long as we all work together to achieve it," Laird said. "Testing is a part of this move to excellence, but it is only one part of the plan. We also must provide classes with rigor, and make parental involvement a priority. We can use the testing to provide benchmarks as well as a tool for improvement."

Randy Piersall, who's vying for Garcia's seat, doesn't know if becoming an Exemplary district is realistic, but he also believed that if the bar wasn't set high "we'll never know if it's possible."

"The testing that the state has set up has not been consistent year to year," Piersall said. "In other words, the questions aren't the same, the topics focused on aren't identical, so it's difficult to use that testing to improve results. It's like a moving target. One of the things I'm hoping for with the new STAAR/EOC (state assessment tests) is that we will be able to use those tests as a method of determining how well the information for a particular class is being communicated to the students."

Place 7 candidate Shane Davidson said improving Abilene ISD's accountability rating would take a "one step at a time" approach.

"We need to identify where the problems are and attack those first," said Davidson, who's competing against three-time incumbent Charlie Wolfe. "Then, as a district, we need to examine all Exemplary rating criteria and begin to put strategies in place to move the needle in those indicators."

Wolfe said aiming for an Exemplary district accountability rating involves multiple aspects.

"It's not about one little area, it's changing the entire mindset in the district to want to do better and exemplary in everything," said Wolfe, who was first elected in 2000. "Whether driving a bus or serving food, we should want to be exemplary in all our areas. If we're responsive to the parents, students and the needs of the community for their graduates, then we will go from good to great. And, we will be Exemplary. You can't do things overnight. It takes years to implement some things and to know the results and how successful you are."